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When someone attains a good age, and Perpetua Pope had just celebrated her 97th birthday when she died in May 2013, there are perhaps few to mourn; peers have passed away and the world has contracted. Not so for Perpetua; she was a conscientious friend with a warmth and openness that attracted all, regardless of age or profession. She was a painter and many artists are numbered among her friends. To these she was generous, even deferential, and she admired and collected many others’ paintings, as this exhibition amply illustrates. She worked in oil and watercolour, like many of the Edinburgh School, dividing her energies between the two media, never letting herself become stale or lapse into repetition. This memorial exhibition, featuring her work and her collection pays tribute to one of the most enduring and warmest personalities in the Scottish art world.
Perpetua Pope was born in Solihull but grew up in rural Aberdeenshire where her father was a business man and passionate art buyer. Her time at Edinburgh College of Art was interrupted by the War, during which she served with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. She lectured at Moray House before she retired in 1973. Her time at the College of Art and the exciting milieu in the capital in the preceding years were formative for her own practice which was split between oil and watercolour. She first exhibited with The Scottish Gallery in 1956 and The Gallery held seven more exhibitions during her lifetime.
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